If you know me well enough, it won’t come as a shocker that I’ve just expanded the fleet by one vehicle. With long-term plans for the ILX involving a family member taking over its operations in a couple of months, I needed something to replace it with as a “daily” driver. The third-generation Acura TL has long been on my list – specifically, one in eye-popping Kinetic Blue Pearl paint color with a manual transmission. Now a decade old, the KBP TL-S still conveys an attractive presence. Plus, what’s not to love about quad exhaust tips!

Adding to the “must-have” mentality was the fact that my friends Marc and Chris – both east coasters – have twin KBP TL-S manuals, and they’ve been egging me on for a while now about joining the club. A few other close friends knew I was on the hunt – and Jason had the winning ticket. Saturday afternoon, April 8, he sent me a text message with a link to an Ebay auction that had just gone live the evening prior.

It was a gorgeous car – 96,000 miles, original owner, fastidiously maintained since new and totally in stock condition. My eyeballs widened as I scrolled through the 25 photos with the listing, trying to find anything “wrong” with the car that would turn me away. Nothing did. Adding gobs of icing to the cake: This car was in my home state, about 2 hours north of me in Flagstaff.

I sent a message to the seller right away asking if he’d have time to show me the car the following morning, on Sunday. And Sunday, I road-tripped the Legend coupe to Flag so I could give the TL a look-see in person. The car, and its seller Dave, were as nice as could be.

I opened the driver side door – taking note that I still couldn’t see even so much as a scratch or ding on the car – and do you know what was sitting on the driver’s seat? A printout from an Excel spreadsheet showing every line item of maintenance since new. Needless to say – it was love at first sight, and I knew at that point this was the TL for me. The test drive solidified that conviction. Dave and I took the car out onto the Interstate 17 northbound onramp and I gave its 286 horses a little workout. It was awesome, and there was no turning back.

By that evening, we had come to an agreement and a deposit was sent. On Monday, Dave emailed me a whopping 36 PDF scanned receipts detailing the car’s maintenance since new. Geek mode set in and I prepared a maintenance spreadsheet, of course. By Tuesday, I had a check in hand for the balance, and on Wednesday, I took delivery of the car. Logistics worked out perfectly, since Dave needed to fly out of Phoenix airport for a business trip, so he drove the car from Flagstaff for me and I just covered his rental car for his return trip.

Now was the fun part. My friends have known for some time that the 2004-2008 Acura TL is one of my favorite cars of all time. In fact, we lovingly call it the “3GTL” and enjoy sending spy shots to one another when we see one on the road. You’ll recall in my recent blog post that the ILX came back from a 6-week accident hiatus on Wednesday, too. The wheels in my head started spinning. What if I invited some friends over to see the refreshed ILX, but in reality, the TL could be there to surprise them?

And so it was done. I carefully figured out the timing and played it out in my head. When roommate James left to run an errand, I quickly pulled the TL into the garage from where I had parked it at the end of the block. Then I put a cover over it. Later that evening, he and a couple other friends came over and learned about the latest Acura-quisition. Here was the video of the reveal:

The best part about the car enthusiast community isn’t the car itself but the network of people you get to meet through it. I’ve already staged a couple of “copycat” photos with my Chris in Maryland since we both have twin cars, times two. Here are photos of his Legend + TL, and my Legend + TL.

Chris’ cars

Tyson’s cars

I look forward to having some fun with my new Type-S and as of later this summer, it will become the primary daily driver as my brother Payton will take over operation of the ILX.

Here are a few more photos!

This conversation was with Dave, the seller. “Door ding free zone” — I love this guy!

First look at the car on Sunday, April 9th

Dave’s garage. He sold the TL to make way for the white 2017 Porsche Macan you see in the background.

Initial odometer reading when I first took the driver seat: 96,565.

That color just pops!

Back in Phoenix on the night of delivery

Just before heading to the house to stage the surprise reveal

TL stickered at $38,795 with this equipment

Check out that DVD-Audio demonstration disc collection! Can’t wait to try out the sound system!

Exhaust tip polish! Before and after:

Getting a little crowded in this garage.

My friend Conor’s reaction was about like mine when I learned of this car.

Haha. I’m glad there are others out there who get just as excited about stuff like this as I do.